Sujit Datta

Assistant: Matt Buga

The Datta lab's research is in the area of transport processes, which aims to predict and control the movement of physical entities such as molecules and cells. In particular, motivated by challenges in biotechnology, energy, medicine, and sustainability, the lab studies the transport of soft ("squishy") and living systems—specifically, "complex" fluids, gels, and microbes—through complex environments ranging from soils, sediments, and porous rocks to gels and tissues in our bodies.

Prof. Datta's lab has pioneered experimental techniques—combining microscopy, microfluidics, materials science, and biophysical characterization—to directly visualize such transport processes in model complex environments with systematically-tunable properties in the lab. This approach enables their studies to bridge the gap between idealized lab studies in uniform environments and complex processes in real-world settings. By integrating such experiments with theoretical/computational modeling, applying ideas from fluid and solid mechanics, biological physics, chemical dynamics, colloidal science, polymer physics, statistical mechanics, and network science, the Datta lab's research reveals and sheds new light on the fascinating behaviors manifested by complex fluids and microbial systems in complex environments, guiding the development of new approaches to biotechnology, environmental remediation, flow chemistry, and sustainability.

Prof. Datta's scholarship has been recognized by awards from a broad range of different communities, reflecting its multidisciplinary nature, including the Allan P. Colburn and 35 Under 35 Awards of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, three awards from the American Physical Society (Early Career Award in Biological Physics, Andreas Acrivos Award in Fluid Dynamics, and Apker Award), Pew Biomedical Scholar Award, Arthur Metzner Award of the Society of Rheology, Unilever Award of the American Chemical Society, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, NSF CAREER Award, Soft Matter Lectureship of the Royal Society of Chemistry and multiple commendations for teaching (including being described as "the most caring and engaging professor I have met at the entire university").

In addition to leading professional activities for a number of scientific societies and agencies, Prof. Datta serves on the editorial boards of Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics and the Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics.